Autonomous Mobility for the Last Mile: The Potential of Transport as a Service

Transport as a Service can initially be understood in very broad terms. “At its core, it is about providing a service for transportation and deliveries,” explains Lukas Haupt.

In its TaaS study, MOIA focuses primarily on the last mile. This refers to the very final stage of a delivery, in which a shipment is transported from a distribution center or warehouse directly to a commercial or private customer over a short, usually urban distance. This can include next-day, same-day or instant delivery.

It is precisely in this urban environment that MOIA is already active today, supporting public transport operators and mobility companies with solutions for autonomous passenger mobility.

With the TaaS study, MOIA is exploring how autonomous mobility could help address challenges facing the transport and logistics industry in the future.

The team quickly identified parallels with Mobility as a Service (MaaS). It is not only the driving itself that needs to be considered, but also related tasks such as handing over the goods. To better understand how such a handover process could work, the team equipped a concept vehicle based on the autonomous ID. Buzz with a prototype dynamic parcel compartment as part of the study, which was showcased at IAA Transportation. The prototype helps make the process and customer experience tangible and provides valuable feedback from potential users.

From Lukas’ perspective, the challenges in the transport sector are similar to those in passenger transport, but even more pronounced. There is a noticeable shortage of drivers, while customer expectations are rising at the same time. “People no longer want next-day delivery, but increasingly expect same-day and instant delivery,” says Lukas. In addition, shipping volumes are growing, already creating bottlenecks on peak days such as Black Friday or around Christmas.

From MOIA’s perspective, autonomous vehicles could help address these challenges. “Autonomous mobility enables logistics and delivery companies to keep pace with this growth and meet customer expectations,” says Lukas. Autonomous mobility could, for example, enable more flexible delivery times without fixed shift endings, making it possible to avoid periods of particularly heavy traffic.

For the study, MOIA primarily examined use cases in which customers are generally present to receive the delivery and where shipments are time-critical or valuable, such as grocery deliveries, on-demand courier services or urgent, high-value shipments. However, traditional B2B cases, such as deliveries to pharmacies, are also relevant use cases.

From a technical perspective, the team sees many overlaps with existing MaaS operations. Lukas says: “We assume that there are synergies in many areas. For example, the technology, software and operational processes developed for Mobility as a Service can be transferred to other use cases.” One key difference is that instead of passenger management, a management system is needed to ensure the secure and legally compliant transportation of goods.

To understand how willing customers would be to use such a model, MOIA commissioned an external survey of around 4,000 to 5,000 people who regularly shop online. Around 70 to 80 percent said they would be willing to use autonomous deliveries.